MY NEWGROUNDS PEEPS WHAZZUP

First of all, I wanna thank all you kind new ppl for following this page, I hope I can make it worth your while! I can't believe 211 people on here are interested in my work, it's really sweet so thank you!

On a personal note, I'm finally free of a job position which has, for the past few years, been making me feel trapped and hopeless, which led to a decrease in my overall will to live, which hasn't been fun. I left college two years ago and have felt directionless ever since, and my job killed my desire to create a better life for myself. So enough complaining, what am I even talking about?

My point is that I've learned I need to be better about standing up for myself and what I believe in. I grew up not exactly being challenged in that way, or challenging myself to be assertive. I thought that because this person was my supervisor that I just had to put up with how they treated me, but this truly was never the case. If anyone out there is experiencing anything similar, I want you to know there's always a way out, and you are strong enough to make your life more into what you truly wish it to be!

So keep making your art, I'm gonna get back to making mine, and I hope to post another cartoon soon. Another big reason for not creating is that it just hasn't made sense for me financially, at least in the short term, which is kinda what my life has been demanding rn, as I imagine you all have that same issue. It's hard to be an independent creator when it seems like the whole internet revolves around reposts and clout chasing viral content.

BUT you don't have to go any route other than the one you really want. That's the beauty of life. The second you decide to really take a look at what you're doing and ask yourself the hard questions about why you do what you do, that's when you start to grow.

2022 has been a break year for sure, and one I feel I've needed. The world keeps getting crazier, and for a long time it felt like I was just trying to keep my head above water. But now I'm relieved to say I feel like I can swim again, and that's a great feeling. New cartoons are on the way, I'm going to start collaborating with people more, and take the spirit of Newgrounds everywhere I go.

Thank you for reading this if you did, and I hope it was of some worth! Until next time.

2 for one year! Look at us. I didn't plan on doing another one this year but it felt appropriate. This seems like a great place to air my thoughts out, art-related or otherwise, just because I feel like a good deal of you guys can relate. As Newgrounds users I feel we're all pretty similar generally speaking. We tend to be the outcasts, the social weirdos who just wanna make cartoons. And that's why I love this community more than any other.

ANYWAY

Life is what you make it. Simple as that. You may think that you're locked in to whatever situation you're in at the time, but there are always other avenues for work, or living your life in general. You can't let fear guide your judgement, or fall into the trepidatious feelings you may have about the future. You absolutely need to have love in your life, more than other negative feelings which may creep in due to apathy or inactivity, or both.

After traveling quite a bit these past couple months, I definitely feel better creatively and spiritually. I feel better about my ability to handle problems which may arise, and I feel better about my ability to disallow the past from having any great impact on my present. I used to think that creation alone WAS the key to solving all my problems, but it isn't. You have to be physically, mentally, and spiritually on your game. And that requires staying active. Because the allure of living a lax and laidback life may sound nice to some, but for people like us, for creators, it is death.

And nothing short of it.

I wish the best to all creators out there reading this. I want us as a community to continue lifting each other up and giving meaningful feedback and support to each other because we are stronger when we are here for each other. It feels great to support other artists, so please do it whenever you can. You never know what anyone else may be going through, and most support and love you can give online is absolutely free of charge.

You can't get absorbed in the past, that has been my main problem for just about my entire life. Try thinking of your life as a bunch of different TV shows, you wouldn't want to keep the same show going too long would ya? It'd get stale! After all, what's adventurous about repeating the same old story in your head and pointlessly yearning for it's impossible return? You should approach life the same way you approach art, with an ambitious, energetic, and eager attitude so you can learn, grow, and live the best life possible.

Good luck to all you guys out there. I hope I can shut the hell up and put out some new cartoons soon. But I do still plan on traveling for a bit during the next few months as well. Photography has been a fun hobby to keep up with, and it's very good for getting new creative ideas as well so I do recommend it if you're interested. Learn how to shoot in manual and it will change the way you capture all the memories you create. The memories which are fleeting, but worth living nonetheless. They're really fucking worth living actually, because we're here, and we're so lucky to be here. Let's make the most of it. Thank you so much for reading this and if you enjoy my stuff, thanks so much for sticking around.

For more frequent updates, check out my twitter: https://twitter.com/Raccatoons

Stay strong, and don't let that flame die out Newgrounds!!

Looks like it's time for my annual Newgrounds update!

I'm glad to say I'm at 116 followers on this page now, which is actually double what I had two years ago! I wanna keep making cartoons and I'm glad that gradually, more and more people are noticing my stuff and I feel like I am getting better. Thanks to everyone who decided to stick around.

Life post-graduation is very strange, and way more confusing and scary than I anticipated. I've been working full time for my base as a photographer and videographer, and it hasn't been a bad job, but it's definitely not what I saw myself doing after going to college for filmmaking and making animations on the side all the time. I feel unfulfilled, lonely, and sad, and have felt that way all year despite being in a relatively good place in my life with a decent paying job. I think being away from friends and family, and having a lot of friends move away recently, is the culprit. It's been a bummer and has progressively gotten worse because I've failed to make the personal steps to deal with my mental health in a healthy way. Making 'The Maskless Raccoon' (what I consider my thesis film) during my final semester at college on top of other classes was the biggest and longest grind I did in college, which was appropriate I guess since it was truly the final stretch, but I had just lost my family dogs at the time and threw myself into my work, which is the same thing I did when my grandma passed a year earlier while I was in the middle of working on 'Trash Panda', and after being pretty damn miserable for most of this year, I've come to a conclusion. It isn't healthy to cope using creation alone.

I've constantly focused on making stuff whenever I felt down. Ever since I was a kid actually! I think my dad being such a despicable person and wanting to get away from that reality is why I started drawing comics in the early 00s. It's always been good for productivity but not good for my mental health. Distracting myself by making stuff never solved my problems, and I've got a lot to figure out, so I've decided to take a sabbatical, and do something I've been wanting to do basically my whole life, which is travel the world, if just for a little bit. I don't know how long I'll be going around places, but I don't have a girlfriend, pet, debt, or a lease at the moment so I still have a good opportunity to exit what has become my normal life and step outside myself for a bit. I could have gotten a studio apartment closer to work, but I have been so wickedly depressed and anxious recently, I just don't think that would've been a smart move.

The only thing tying me down is having to come back once a month for work. I luckily have saved up enough to be gone for a while, so that's what I'll be doing here soon. I've built up so many walls due to my own past trauma, and I want to figure out ways of rectifying that and bettering myself. I'm not a religious dude but I have needed to look for at least a bit of spiritual guidance recently, and I'm becoming more and more intrigued with Buddhist philosophies. I need to find peace in my mind and in my life, and I feel like a lot of the lessons there can help. Meditation at least definitely helps.

This, by no means, means I'm quitting. I'll still make stuff, but I do need to take a break for myself. I know I will never become a "success" overnight, it would take a shitload more time and effort than what I've been putting in due to work and lack of personal focus, but I hope taking this time for self-reflection will help me come back better than ever. I want to make great stuff, I love making people laugh, and I won't stop trying to make that my way of living, as long as I am living.

Hopefully by my next update I'll be more at peace. Good luck out there. Don't forget to take time for yourself and talk to your homies!

Hey everyone! It's been a crazy year of course, but I hope everyone's doing well!

So first off, BIG THANKS to the new followers! We're at 81 now, glad you guys dig my stuff! Secondly, I changed my name from "MoonCoontheLoon" to Raccatoons on all my platforms. After over 7 years of using the old name, I figured I'd mix it up a bit and simplify things to avoid future confusion. Hopefully this won't cause you (my homies) to abandon my sorry ass.

I've been working on an Avatar parody cartoon this summer, it's been really fun! I'm streaming the whole thing over on Twitch at twitch.tv/raccatoons, mostly with the vocal accompaniment of my animator friend mickaleaf. The last time I did a parody was over 6 years ago, so it definitely feels great to do one again with everything new I have in my toolbelt! I'll be posting that to Newgrounds late next week if all goes well!

If you're wondering why I haven't done more animation, I'm still in college (LMAO) but I'm finally graduating this year. I have a feeling I really want to break into the animation industry next year, but I still have a lot of figuring out to do. Working on films is always an option as well. I feel like most of you can relate to not knowing exactly which path you may wanna take with life, but honestly? There's so much time left, I feel like I don't need to be tied down to one thing, one exact career path. I can always change it up if things get stale! And so can YOU so if you've read this far don't allow yourself to become a stale lil potato chip you've gotta keep everything fresh. Just follow your big ol' heart and you'll always go the right way. Thanks again for stickin' around, and best of luck on your future projects. Just keep posting, and consider being a supporter for Newgrounds if you can! Later dorks!

Hey Newgrounds, it's been a while!

I have 58 followers now, which confuses me but welcome! I'm glad some people like my stuff. If one of you could scout me, that'd be awesome! I like creating 2D art but I feel like it never gets seen on here because I'm unscouted.

As for animation, hahaaaa well (man can I really include over 32,000 characters in this thing?) I'm not gonna go that in depth but essentially I've learned a lot about film production and I'm going to college for that, so I don't have a whole lot of time or creative energy left to animate at this point. I may put out some stuff this year, but it'll likely be sketch animations, or more short films. I can't post my short films here though, you'll have to check out my youtube for that! I wish Newgrounds would allow for original short films to be shared on the site, but I get why that's not in the cards.

Anyways, thanks for sticking around if you actually read this whole thing! I hope to continue making better stuff as the years go on and I get older and older and eventually die. Until next time!

Okay WOW here's another hot Newgrounds update that I don't think anybody will read but I'm gonna post it anyway.

I was able to make cartoons regularly during my time in High School but now that I've been in college and making my own living I've had to work different jobs. Taco Bell, Domino's, etc.

Right now I'm going to OU and trying to make a habit of drawing at least a little every day. I'd liketo do another cartoon again (maybe an oneyplays animated) but it has become much harder to find the time. 

I recently became a Newgrounds Supporter and would encourage you to do the same if you can, as this site is one of the few remaining that actually empowers creators, rather than making them corporate puppets.

Anyways that's about all I've got for now. Toodles.

Hey person! So I went to Pico Day this year and had a great time. Met a lot of great artists and got a scope of what the community is actually like in person. Everyone was super cool! I'm still animating even though my last post was ages ago... trust me it's only been that long because I've been putting my all into this new one I'm doing.

Also college.

I plan to have my cartoon out by sometime next month, and it'll be just about 5 minutes in length. After that, I might do another Mega64animated but most likely I'm gonna do a SleepyCabin animated. Drawing the same people for over a year gets old, ya know? We'll see what happens.

That's it for now, later!

I've started work on a Wisenheimers animation and I'm really enjoying it! It should be out by the end of next week. After that I'm going to make another Game Grumps animated. I might just go back and forth between Wisenheimers and Game Grumps for a while. WHO KNOWS?!

Thanks for being lovely.